Interloper

In her work Interloper, Ritter explores the relationship between collective behaviour, social surveillance, and public spaces. Over the course of a year, Ritter tracked her movements and behaviours in spaces designed for public use. As such, she noted when her movements became intentionally performative, which, according to Ritter, enabled her to “temporarily occupy a public space or transgressing public behaviour—activities which were transitory and performed for a limited and often unwitting audience.” Interloper records the spaces of such actions, although the actions themselves are absence from the piece. In this way, the piece questions the very notion of public, and addresses the ways in which the behaviour of the self functions in relation to it. As well, Ritter explores the possibilities of transmitting personal experiences to an audience through highlighting the limitations of documentation.